Security a river accesses? Safe to leave car overnight?

[Terrierman]

Take the oldest least valuable vehicle and don't leave anything in it you want to keep.  Don't even lock the doors - less broken glass that way.

[Conor]

I like them all for different reasons.  We did Union to Uhlemeyer in the winter and it was nice.  I do think the scenery from Mayers to Union is the best for the lower part below Spring Creek.  Mayers is a true pit of hell though but easier to exit at the bottom than come in from the top.  There were tires and dead deer in the water last time I went.  I think the Goodes Mill Dam and ruins of the mill and machinery are cool though.  The turbine and some large pulleys are still present.

Mint Spring to Tea is probably the best of the upper part but that requires high water.  I think the sweet spot is probably from Mill Rock to Noser Mill as there is a lot of really good scenery here and it is floatable most of the time.

I had heard Uhlemeyer was a gay meetup spot from someone else.  There are always people there so we assumed it was just drug dealing being so close to the highway at first.  The cars looked better than the typical junkers you see the tweakers in as well.  No one ever bothered us but I guess we didn't give off the right vibes to them.  They might also provide passive security by being there.  I will remember not to change clothes in the woods after a trip here though or I might end up with MAYERS POX.

Conor

[Gavin]

The gays back into parking spaces. Flash their headlights, wave at at you if interested. Don’t engage, and no problems. 

[Conor]

This probably keeps the converter theft and stuff down at this access if they are hanging out in cars there all day.  We just didn't know what was going on here at first.  It was also probably obvious to them that we were actually using the access to get on the river as well.

Conor

[Conor]

A friend of a friend had their trailer stolen yesterday while kayaking the Meramec at the MDC Blue Spring Access.  I hear you want to at least put a lock that requires some effort to cut/remove or this is likely.

Another friend was telling me how his boss had a pickup stolen a while back.  This just happened somewhere in the St. Louis area.  It was found a few days later, mostly stripped, IN the river at Rieker Ford.

I guess it is luck of the draw and just using common sense at these remote places.

Conor

[Flysmallie]

The best option I have seen is the shuttle shuttle. 

I ran across some guys at a gas station a year or so ago on I44. I was getting gas and they pull in reminding me of my buddies and I when we were much younger and bulletproof. There were four of them and they we all in one SUV pulling a trailer that had the most beat up piece of crap car I have ever seen. It had no windows in it and no interior. If you looked inside there was a milk crate and a motorcycle helmet. I couldn't help myself so I asked these guys what was up with the car. They said: "oh that's the shuttle shuttle". So depending on which access is the most sketchy they will leave the shuttle shuttle there. Preferably they drop the shuttle shuttle off at the end and whoever sucks the most on the trip has to drive it up the starting access to get the truck. They were making particular fun of one guy because he had lost one weekend and had to take the shuttle shuttle back to the truck. They said that for whatever reason he couldn't get the shuttle shuttle back on the trailer. Once they got everything loaded on the truck they decided to leave the shuttle shuttle where it was for the time and return for it later since they would have to backtrack to get it. They said they ended up forgetting about it for like a month but when they went back it was still there. Nobody had touched it. And they said if they ever lose it or somebody hauls it off, then they can probably find another $300 shuttle shuttle to replace it. Those guys are having a good time. 

[Al Agnew]

Last winter sometime I parked at the Union Access and paddled downstream two or three miles.  There wasn't anybody there when I parked.  Coming  back up the river, when I was a couple hundred yards below the bridge, somebody with a semi-auto rifle decided to fire off a dozen rounds or so into the water under the bridge.  I hung back for a bit and waited to see if they were going to do any more shooting.  Nothing else happened so I paddled on up to the ramp.  As I was walking up to get my truck and bring it down the ramp, a county cop pulled up.  He asked me if I'd seen anybody shooting.  I said I'd seen the shots hit the water but hadn't seen the perpetrators.  We talked for a bit and then he got out of his car and wandered around the edges of the lot for a bit.  So I guess somebody quickly reported the shooting.

[Giltweasel]

Was parked at Mayer's in a convertible chevy while watching kids take kayaks up and down at the landing.  We were standing on the ramp and the cloth roof was cut. Took my wife's purse(with nothing of monetary value in it) and scattered all her IDs, photos, and cards.

Took about 2 hours for a Deputy to arrive as it was the same day as a bad shooting in the county.

I would not leave anything valuable unsupervised AT ALL at that access, or Reiker's.  Union access isn't as bad still wouldn't leave anything valuable. UPD will check on it if there's activity, but that doesn't seem to deter the transient element.

[Conor]

Obviously this can be an issue.  I would think parking out from the access in a more visible area near Union would be fine.  That is what we always do.  The homeless people didn't seem to be around the last time we used the Union access.  Have they been moved out?

It does seem there are some strange people that hang out at this river, more so than others.

 

Conor

[moguy1973]

I'm not sure what's worse.  The trash scum thieves that are in the city or the trash scum thieves that live out in rural areas.  Can't get away from it if you wanted to.

 

This is why we can't have nice things.